Featured below are complete INSERT SHOW NAME AND DATE 2023. The following report was written by Rajah.com reporter Matt Boone and our live coverage partner (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live on the USA Network from 8-11pm EST.
The usual "WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together." opening signature narrated by John Cena gets things started. We then see a lengthy Halloween-themed opener before we see New Year's Day perform Vampyre live inside the CWC as videos cut in and out showing the build-up to tonight's matches.
We then see the camera pan the venue as Vic Joseph and Booker T welcome us to the show while fans chant "NXT! NXT!" We shoot inside the ring and see Shotzi and Scarlett dressed up for Halloween as the co-hosts for tonight's show. They mention how they don't want to keep us waiting and then introduce the Devil's Playground opener.
We then hear Roxanne Perez's theme and out she comes dressed up as Freddy Krueger for Halloween. She makes her way to the ring for our opening contest. She settles inside the squared circle as her music wraps up. The theme for Kiana James hits next and out she comes with her loaded hand bag as always. The fans boo as she settles into the ring.
The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one. James immediately swings at Perez with the hand bag, but Perez avoids it. The commentators point out anything goes in this Devil's Playground bout. The fans chant "Let's go Roxy!" as she starts off in the offensive lead early on. They fight out to the ringside area, where we see a broken down swingset, kiddie pool and other items laying around this "Devil's Playground."
Perez goes for a pin attempt on the floor but James kicks out. Perez beats up James with the swing from the swingset and then goes for a suplex on a mini plastic sliding board, which James counters. James picks up her hand bag again and pull outs a laptop, which she bashes Perez with as we head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
When we return from the break, we see Perez fight back into competitive form and then take over, breaking off a piece of the fence set and hitting James with it. She connects with a side-Russian leg sweep into the sliding board for a close pin fall attempt on the floor. Perez ends up finishing her off moments later with Pop-Rox on the floor for the pin fall victory.
Winner: Roxanne Perez
We shoot backstage and Vic Joseph is sitting with Carmelo Hayes. He asks him outright if he was the guy who attacked Trick Williams backstage last week. He denies it. They talk about his big title opportunity against Ilja Dragunov next week and then we shift gears and head into a commercial break.
As we settle back in from the commercials, we see Noam Dar and The Meta-Four backstage. Dar gets creeped out by Scarlett giving them a tarot reading telling him to keep the things he values close. As he and The Meta-Four talk we see Akira Tozawa sneak in behind them and steal Dar's NXT Heritage Cup trophy.
Lexis King's theme hits and out he comes to make his long-awaited NXT in-ring debut. He settles inside the squared circle where his opponent, Dante Chen, is already waiting for him. The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one.
King dominates Chen from the word "go." He blasts him from behind with a big clothesline to the back of the head as the commentary duo of Vic Joseph and Booker T spend the majority of their time talking about Brian Pillman, the late father of King, and how King wants to be nothing like him.
Chen actually starts to shift the offensive momentum in his favor and take over briefly, but King doesn't let this happen for long, as he turns Chen's lights out and takes back over seconds later. He hits a big DDT while Chen was draping off the middle ropes and then picks up the pin fall victory.
Winner: Lexis King
We shoot backstage and we see Chase U talking with Thea Hail and Jacy Jane. Jane assures them no one will be throwing in any towels tonight. The Family walks in and they talk briefly with Chase U ahead of their NXT World Tag-Team Championship showdown later tonight.
Back inside the CWC, the theme for Kelani Jordan hits and it's time for the first of two semifinals bouts in the ongoing NXT Women's Breakout Tournament. She settles in the ring and then the beauty queen theme and entrance for her opponent, Arianna Grace, takes place.
The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one. Jordan jumps into the early offensive lead and then just a few seconds into the contest getting started, we shoot into a mid-match commercial break.
We return and see Grace in the offensive lead, trying to make Jordan kiss her hand. Jordan fights back and hits a split-legged moonsault off the top for the win. With the win, she advances to the finals of the tournament.
Winner and ADVANCING to the finals: Kelani Jordan
We shoot to the latest video showing Von Wagner's road to recovery. He asks Robert Stone why he took a match with Bron Breakker next week.
He says he just wants to get one slap to get the smile off his face. He calls Von his friend, which Von liked hearing. Von started working harder to recover. Stone tells Von next week is for him. We head to another commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see Shotzi and Scarlett in new Halloween costumes. They plug their show on WWE's YouTube channel for way too long. Eventually The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile come out.
They talk about Angel and Humberto costing them their chance at the titles. They say they want to smash them next week. Shotzi likes the idea but doesn't think it should be a normal match. Scarlett says they should let the wheel decide. They spin the wheel and it is determined that the match will be a Tables, Ladders and Scares match.
Now we hear the familiar sounds of The Family's theme music and out comes the reigning and defending NXT World Tag-Team Champions Tony D'Angelo and Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo for their latest title defense.
They walk past The Creed Brothers with big smiles on their faces and then head to the ring. The theme for Chase U hits and out comes Andre Chase and Duke Hudson, the winners of the Bada Bing, Bada Boom Battle Royale last week.
The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with our first title tilt of the evening. We see Stacks fired up early on and doing well, however Chase U starts to take over as we head into a mid-match commercial break.
We return from the break and see the champs in the offensive driver's seats again until Hudson gets the hot tag. He fires up and starts taking it to Stacks with a vengeance. He comes close to finishing this one a few times, but ultimately Stacks keeps hanging on to keep this one alive.
D'Angelo helps Stacks take over and the fans start chanting "Throw the towel!" at Thea Hail at ringside as they take it to Chase and Hudson. Chase fires up and takes D'Angelo downs. He does the C-H-A-S-E U stomp spot as the fans cheer along. D'Angelo hits a super-plex and Stacks follows up with a flying headbutt.
They go for the cover but Hudson breaks it up in time. We see Jacy Jane freaking out at Chase while Hail tends to Hudson on the floor. Chase ends up fighting on and getting the unexpected pin for the win. We have new tag champs.
Winners and NEW NXT World Tag-Team Champions: Chase U
We shoot to Nathan Frazer at the desk for his latest "Hard Hitting Truths" segment. The former NXT Heritage Cup Champion goes on to challenge Dominik Mysterio for a shot at the NXT North American Championship for night two of NXT Halloween Havoc next week.
Now we see some quick NXT Anonymous Twitter (X) footage and then we return inside the CWC where the lights go out. NXT Halloween Havoc co-hosts Shotzi and Scarlett officially introduce our next match of the evening, the Lights Out bout.
With that said, Gigi Dolin makes her way down to the ring and settles inside. Blair Davenport is out next. The bell sounds and we're officially off and running with this one, which takes place with the lights extremely dimmed inside the CWC.
After some early action and brawling with weapons at ringside, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues. When we return, we see Gigi in control of the offense. She leaves Davenport laying in the ring and heads out to the floor.
Dolin pulls a table out from under the ring for a huge pop. She slides it into the ring and begins setting it up. Davenport fights back and beats Gigi up with a trash can. Gigi fights back with a strap, whipping Davenport, which Booker T talks about being hot over and over again on commentary. Calm yourself, Book!
Gigi unfolds a steel chair and sets Davenport on it. She hits the ropes but Davenport pops up and throws it into her face, Sabu-style. She hits a belly-to-back suplex and goes for the cover but Dolin kicks out. Vic and Booker talk about the chair that just got thrown flying over to them at the commentary area.
Davenport heads out to the floor at ringside and now she reaches under the ring and pulls out a table for a big pop. Davenport hits Dolin with a falcon arrow through the table on the floor for a loud "Holy sh*t!" chant that is censored off the broadcast. Davenport brings Dolin in the ring and hits her finisher for the win.
Winner: Blair Davenport
As he did with the challenger, Carmelo Hayes, earlier in the night, Vic Joseph now sits down with the NXT World Champion Ilja Dragunov to talk about next week's main event of NXT Halloween Havoc Night Two.
He asks Ilja how it's been to go from chasing the title to being the champion. They then look ahead to next week's showdown and wrap things up.
Now we shoot backstage and we see Shotzi and Scarlett in different Halloween costumes. They approach Carmelo Hayes and says all cards point to it being him. He thinks they mean that he's going to win the title next week.
They say no, but that he was the one who attacked Trick Williams last week. He says he isn't buying that and walks off. They giggle. We head to another commercial break.
We shoot backstage for a Tiffany Stratton interview, but Tiffy wasn't having it, losing her cool and starting a brawl before we return inside the CWC where Karmen Petrovic and Lola Vice are already in the ring.
The bell sounds and it's time to find out who will be squaring off against Kelani Jordan in the finals of the 2023 NXT Women's Breakout Tournament next Tuesday night at night two of NXT Halloween Havoc.
Petrovic jumps into the early offensive lead, taking it to Lola with a vengeance. She knocks her out to the floor. Fans try and chant Lola's name to rally behind her, but Petrovic dives through the ropes with a big suicide dive.
Back in the ring, Lola does finally start to shift the offensive momentum in her favor before finally blasting Petrovic with a big kick and finishing her off for the win. With the win, Lola moves on to face Jordan in the tourney finals.
Winner and ADVANCING to the finals: Lola Vice
We shoot backstage where Chase U are celebrating their big win and becoming tag champs with Jacy Jane and Thea Hail. We then see the Undisputed WWE Women's Tag-Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven in costumes.
They get into an argument with Thea Hail and Jacy Jane. Green wants to go talk to Shawn Michaels. Hail and Jane say they're gonna ask for a tag title match against them.
It's main event time!
We shoot backstage and we see Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch getting ready to make their ring walks for tonight's NXT Women's Championship main event of night one of NXT Halloween Havoc. We head to a quick pre-match commercial break first.
When we return, we see Noam Dar freaking out about his stolen Heritage Cup trophy. We then see Bron Breakker confront Carmelo Hayes about the mystery attack on Trick Williams last week.
The commentators run down the lineup for week two of NXT Halloween Havoc and then we shoot inside the CWC where Jade Cargill is introduced and seated at a throne at the top of the stage to watch tonight's NXT Women's Championship showdown.
Lyra Valkyria's theme hits and out comes the challenger for this high stakes main event title tilt here at night one of NXT Halloween Havoc. She settles in the ring and her music dies down. Becky Lynch's theme hits and out comes "The Man" for her latest title defense.
After the bell sounds and they begin getting after it, we immediately head into a mid-match commercial break. This one will wrap up when we return. When we do return, we see Lynch in control of the action. Valkyria takes over after a few minutes but can't finish off Lynch.
"The Man" takes over again and starts hitting her trademark spots, but somehow Lyra manages to continue to hang on each and every time. The fans chant "This is Awesome!" as Valkyria starts to show signs of life and fight back into competitive form. We're 12 minutes past the hour.
Becky Lynch finally hits a Man-Handle Slam and she once again goes for the cover, only for Valkyria to kick out yet again. Lynch has the wide eyes and jaw dropped as her reaction. The fans chant "Holy sh*t!" after the kick out so loud that it is edited off of the broadcast.
Valkyria ends up rolling Lynch up out of nowhere and pulling off the upset. We have a new NXT Women's Champion. The crowd is shocked. Valkyria is elated. Lynch hugs Valkyria and presents her with the title after the hard fought battle. Jade Cargill is shown watching on from her throne. "The Man" leaves the ring to Valkyria, who ends the show celebrating her shocking title victory. That's how night one of NXT Halloween Havoc goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
Winner and NEW NXT Women's Champion: Lyra Valkyria
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